Devin Harris Out Tonight
Mar 17, 2010 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Devin Harris, Terrence Williams
In case you missed it, Devin Harris is expected not to play tonight, according to the beat guys.
Meanwhile, over in Twitter-land, Chris Douglas-Roberts is making a case for Terrence Williams to become a starter.
Talking About Chris Douglas-Roberts…Again…
Mar 9, 2010 Chris Douglas-Roberts
With the Nets in Memphis last night to play the Grizzlies, I was expecting some news about CDR to come out of it. The city of Memphis loves CDR from his college years, and with him not getting much time fans are probably curious about why it is happening. This afternoon an article from Scott Cacciola of the Memphis Commercial Appeal popped up, and in it were some interesting quotes about the relationship between CDR and Kiki Vandeweghe. Here are some excerpts:
The disconnect between Douglas-Roberts and coach Kiki Vandeweghe could not have been more obvious. Not counting the two times Vandeweghe requested that Douglas-Roberts report to the scorer’s table, neither appeared to acknowledge the other’s existence. And while Vandeweghe has been diplomatic in his public remarks about Douglas-Roberts, their relationship is strained. It is one of the worst-kept secrets in the NBA.
When Douglas-Roberts was asked about the situation, he craned his neck to check if anyone was listening and lowered his voice to a whisper.
“It’s unique,” he said. “We talked a lot when he got here. But then he took over as the head coach, and it’s … it’s, uh, unique.”
…
Under Frank, Douglas-Roberts averaged 16.3 points on 14.3 shots per game. Under Vandeweghe, he is averaging 8.3 points on 7.7 shots per game. And his playing time continues to deteriorate. In February, he averaged just 3.3 points on 39-percent shooting in 14.4 minutes per game.
He also was benched twice, and that included the Nets’ 104-94 loss to the visiting Grizzlies on Feb. 21. Vandeweghe told reporters it was the result of an “internal matter,” which provided at least an indication of the turmoil that has hindered the Nets – and CDR, in particular – this season.
“I’m fully aware of what’s going on,” Douglas-Roberts said. “Earlier in the year, I was really successful. The first 30 or 35 games, I was averaging 17 a game. But we were still losing. And then the coaching change, and he came in with a different system, philosophy. Basically I had to take a backseat.”
Asked how the system is different, Douglas-Roberts said: “It’s more of an inside-out team. We have a great big in Brook Lopez. And another young big in Yi Jianlian. And then basically we have to play through them, which is fine. But I’m suffering a little from that.”
…
Douglas-Roberts, during his cameos, often stationed himself outside the 3-point arc along the baseline. He looked almost uncomfortable.
“I don’t really know what my role is,” he said. “I just go in there and, you know, play while I’m in there. It’s not really an established role like it was earlier in the year. So I just go out there and try to play and help us out however I can.”
That is a lot to take in, so let’s look at each individual topic.
The Disconnect
CDR has been saying something to this effect for a while now. I don’t know what happens behind the scenes, but I have been to a couple of practices and to me it doesn’t seem like Kiki is going out of his way to talk to him, but he isn’t going out of his way to avoid him. Again, just based on my observations it seems that CDR is more of the initiator of the disconnect. It all probably started after Kiki’s first benching of CDR. I am not saying he needs to be happy, but it is pretty important to have a working relationship with your coach, and if the coach doesn’t feel like he can trust a player to listen to him, he isn’t going to play him. It is that simple. The problem is that the more CDR sits, the more introverted he becomes.
The System
This has been CDR’s biggest complaint of the season and of Kiki. That Kiki’s decision to play inside-out is disrespectful to CDR and his game, but in all actuality this was the decision that turned the Nets’ season around (from 0 wins to now 7). The fact that CDR still spouts off his scoring average after the first 30 games off the top of his head is troubling. He seems to be hanging on to that despite not doing what got him there. Ever since Yi returned and Kiki decided to play inside-out, Kiki has lost that aggression and willingness to attack the basket. That’s why his shots and his scoring have gone down. The shots are out there (especially now that the Nets need a 4th scorer with Yi out). Even the Memphis paper admitted this:
Douglas-Roberts is a slasher, not a distributor. But there does seem to be room in Vandeweghe’s system for guards and wings who are capable scorers. Against the Grizzlies, swingman Courtney Lee scored 30 points on 13-of-20 shooting and point guard Devin Harris added 28 – though, in fairness, they had to take on more responsibility because Jianlian was sidelined with an injury.
CDR’s Role
This seems to be CDR’s new complaint about the Nets and Kiki. That CDR doesn’t know his role anymore, as if it is an excuse for him to stand out beyond the three point line when he is in. I have an idea for CDR, if he doesn’t know his role, why doesn’t he ask his coach? Oh yeah, I forgot, their relationship is “unique”. Not knowing his role shouldn’t prevent him from doing things like boxing out (gave up a key rebound in the fourth quarter against Memphis) when he is in the game.
—
Talking about CDR and his complaints about the Nets is getting old. It seems like he needs to come up with a new excuse or reason why he isn’t playing (or playing well) about every month. CDR is a guy with a chip on his shoulder, and rightfully so. That chip is what makes CDR a potentially special player, but he needs to realize that not everyone is against him, especially his teammates and coaches.
Nets on the Net: 3/8/10 Edition
Mar 8, 2010 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Josh Boone, Mikhail Prokhorov, Nets on the Net, Terrence Williams, Yi
In a report by Al Iannazzone, John Calipari, who coached Chris Douglas-Roberts at Memphis, still believes in the former All-American: “At the end of the day,” Calipari said, “I think he’s going to be a guy in the league that plays significant minutes, is a significant player, is a starter on a team that’s doing well. I truly believe that.”
Yi Jianlian will not travel with this team on their four game road trip because of his ankle injury.
Terrence Williams and Josh Boone talk with Fred Kerber about their Big East Championship memories.
NetsDaily begins their series on Mikhail Prokhorov, dubbed “the most interesting man in the world.”
Nets on the Net: 3/7/10 Edition
Mar 7, 2010 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Courtney Lee, LeBron James, Mikhail Prokhorov, Nets on the Net, Rafer Alston
Over at the 2010 MIT Sloan Sports Conference, where I’m beginning to think I’m the only TrueHooper not in attendance (see some of Sebastian’s coverage at NBA Playbook Here), Mikhail Prokhorov was mentioned as the “next generation” of sports owner.
Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy on yesterday’s superstar, Courtney Lee, as told to Colin Stephenson of the Star-Ledger: “He’s a very good player,’’ Lee’s old coach with Orlando, Stan Van Gundy, said of the 6-5 second-year guard. “His rookie year, he basically took open shots, moved the ball, played very good defense, didn’t make mistakes. And I think early in the year (with the Nets, after coming to New Jersey in the Vince Carter trade), trying to get back to the way he was in college and trying to be more aggressive was a little bit more of a challenge.
In Al Iannazzone’s recap, Courtney Lee says he sees yesterday’s game as a turning point for the team: “It feels good,” said Courtney Lee, one of the Nets stars with 25 points in his first game back after missing the prior three with a sprained ankle. “We’re starting to play together. We’re starting to understand and make the right reads out there. I feel finishing the season we’ll be a pretty good team.”
Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni is none too happy about last night: “It is as bad as it gets,” Mike D’Antoni said. “We just have to come back Monday and try to do better. I don’t have a lot to say; we just have to pull it together and find a little bit of a combination that works a little bit.”
Adam Jacobi at SB Nation, says last night’s game means two things:
- The world has gone completely crazycakes
- The Knicks are falling apart faster than 4-year-old’s alibi in the case of the missing cake frosting
Just thought I’d mention that this New York Post report refers to the Nets as “impotent.” Does this mean the players should have just been taking viagra all season?
Brian Windhorst of the Plain Dealer mocks Chris Douglas-Roberts for his recent cryptic comments about whether or not he would help recruit LeBron James to the Nets: That’s what the Nets get, apparently, for upsetting a player making the minimum salary who is averaging 10 points per game.
Old friend Rafer Alston, who hasn’t played any better since going to Miami, was indefinitely suspended by the team and is mulling retirement.
Nets on the Net: 3/3/10 Edition
Mar 3, 2010 Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Draft Lottery, LeBron James, Mikhail Prokhorov, Nets on the Net
Oh, Chris Douglas-Roberts, you can never just not be cryptic when a reporter asks you a question can you? Al Iannazzone asks CDR whether he would “recruit” LeBron James, apparently a friend Douglas-Roberts has given “advice” to (tiger raising tips?). Here’s CDR’s response to Al: “Leon, LeBron, everybody’s together. Every relationship we have, that’s what it is. For example if they’re not happy somewhere or they’re not happy with something it’s all in the family, no one’s happy.”
Speaking of LeBron, as expected, the storyline from some beat writers is how this is the Nets last chance to “impress” James this season when he visits the Izod Center tonight. Julian Garcia of the Daily News brings up one advantage the Nets have over the Knicks: If putting up a fight is appealing to James, then the Nets have done a better job than the Knicks. The Nets’ worst loss to the Cavaliers this season was by 10 points, while the Knicks took a 31-point beating in Cleveland Monday night.
With Shaq out of the lineup tonight, Brook Lopez begins his preparation for what the Cavs are likely going to throw at him: “I look at it as a challenge, how it’s going to affect me defensively,” Lopez said. “Guys like Varejao and Hickson in, who are a lot more mobile – I think we can help a little bit more (on LeBron James and others), but at the same time, they’re going to be cutting a lot, they’re all great cutters; they play off the ball really well. So while we can help, we’ve sort of got to keep an eye on them.”
Al Harrington of the Knicks tells the New York Post that LeBron’s loyalty to Ohio may trump all this summer: “But if he’s as loyal as he says, I would think it’s very hard for him to leave, especially because he’s home.
Mikhail Prokhorov, prospective Nets owner, reportedly lost a $53 million deposit for a home he was looking to buy on the French Riviera.
Tom Ziller at NBA Fanhouse looks at the ping pong ball “derby” for this summer’s NBA draft.
Why Are We Drawn to CDR?
Feb 23, 2010 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Opinion
For a second round draft pick who’s not known as a shooter or for his defense, there’s just something oddly fascinating about the downward spiral of Chris Douglas-Robert’s 2009-10 NBA season.
He certainly showed flashes of being a rotation player late last season and earlier this season. While the roster was decimated by injury in November, CDR appeared to be riding shotgun with Brook Lopez as the only consistent offensive performers on the team, averaging 17.3 points points per game. But in the following months, CDR’s role on offense diminished greatly. Last month, he was replaced in the starting lineup by Jarvis Hayes, and rumors of him “falling out of favor” with coach Kiki Vandeweghe seemed to have put a further crimp on his playing time. On Sunday, he earned the dreaded, DNP-CD against the Memphis Grizzlies, and an unnamed team executive said Douglas-Roberts was late for a practice, as the reasoning. CDR disputed that claim on his Twitter page, a tool he often uses, rumor has it, much to the chagrin of Kiki and other members on the Nets front office.
Both Sebastian and I have spent a lot of time breaking down and analyzing CDR’s season from both a basketball-sense – which is obviously more objective – and from a more philosophical, subjective perspective. And it seems like many of the team’s beat writers take this approach with CDR as well. Because what’s not to like about a guy who always seems willing to talk candidly when a microphone or a notebook is shoved in front of his face. CDR has told the world in one way or another, that his team is soft, has no heart and has developed a new “system” of which he plays less of a role. He’s Tweeted about loving his “Memphis People” after trade rumors regarding sending him to the Grizzlies surfaced, and then emphatically denied he was pining for a trade after the fact.
And all of these factors have created a gravitational pull around CDR whether you love him or hate him. Has anyone questioned why Trenton Hassell hasn’t received playing time from Kiki Vandeweghe recently, despite playing above expectations earlier this season? How about Bobby Simmons who was one of the better shooting SFs in all of the NBA last season? Simmons hasn’t played in months.
CDR hasn’t been a factor in a Nets game in more than a month. He plays a position where the Nets actually have some decent depth on the roster, and stand to acquire more depth giving the high profile names on this summer’s free agent list. Maybe it’s time for us all to collectively stop wringing our hands and obsessing over what CDR is doing, the good and the bad. If he’s truly falling out of favor with the organization, that will be demonstrated in due time when he is either traded this summer or released. It just seems like a lot of ink has been spent rehashing something that seems to only be affecting one player who may or may not even be in the league a year from now.
Nets on the Net: 2/12/10 Edition
Feb 12, 2010 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Coaching, Nets on the Net
The dissection of Chris Douglas-Roberts continues. In a team-by-team outlook report by Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, he says the Nets could potentially buyout CDR’s next-to-nothing contract because his attitude is “horrible.” CDR obviously reacted strongly to the report via Twitter: All this because I take losing badly. I’m starting to think other things now…fa real. It’s deeper than how it looks. Fa real.
Add “Coach K” to the growing list of potential coaching candidates for the Nets next season. A report in the Daily News also throws our old friend John Calipari into the mix – which might actually make my head explode, though wouldn’t an awesome reality show be a setup where Coach Cal was back with the Nets, but he HAD to take Jayson Williams as his assistant coach?
Of all the hang-wringing and debate regarding the Nets awful season, leave it to Anthony Marcri of Basketball Prospectus to hit the nail on the head with his assessment: The central issue with this Nets team is, quite simply, they are less than the sum of their parts. They have a few pieces who could be starters on championship-caliber teams (Brook Lopez and Courtney Lee). They have guys who could be solid contributors for a playoff team (Devin Harris and Yi Jianlian come to mind). Finally, they have some role players who on the right team could be integral to a team’s success (Chris Douglas-Roberts, Kris Humphries, Terrence Williams, and Keyon Dooling, to name a few). However, this group does not fit together on the court.
Bleacher Report tries to fix the Nets, suggesting to trade for Caron Butler, draft Evan Turner, and hire Mike Fratello as coach, among other things.
Nets on the Net 2/11/10 Edition
Feb 11, 2010 Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Coaching, Kiki Vandeweghe, Kris Humphries, Mikhail Prokhorov, Nets on the Net
First a programming note. I understand I missed “Hump Day” yesterday. My brain is still a little scrambled from basically moving from one end of New York City to the other. Hopefully, next week I’ll remember it’s Wednesday and you’ll be able to start in Hump’s dreamy eyes again.
Over at ESPN’s Daily Dime, our boy Sebastian writes about Brook Lopez’s selection to the 2010-2012 Men’s National Basketball Team.
With the arena all but empty last night, Al Iannazzone captures some color from the fans: There were chants of “CD-R,” who didn’t play until garbage time, and one fan screamed, “Kiki, fire yourself.” In this setting, Vandeweghe had to have heard it. You could hear everything the fans were saying.
Meanwhile, on the agenda this weekend in Dallas, Rod Thorn will meet with Mikhail Prokhorov over dinner to discuss how those two can turn the Nets around.
So the shameless endless marketing of the Nets continues as the newest promotion is courtesy of Zappo’s: enter to win to be coach of the Nets for the day alongside Kiki Vandeweghe. Of course, the contest doesn’t explain what happens if Kiki gets canned in the next couple of weeks. Maybe if you win, they’ll just let you be the coach without a proper assistant.
For those of you with ESPN Insider, David Thorpe does his usual rookie/sophomore rankings but combines them this week in advance of All-Star Weekend. Thorpe determines that Brook Lopez is the No. 1 rookie/soph in the NBA currently.
Rick Pitino is apparently lobbying the Nets for their head coaching job. Rod Thorn is denying it.
Tom Robinson of the Virginian-Pilot writes about the Nets being on pace for all-time futility and includes the line of the day in his column: I’m not a Nets hater. Trying to think, but I can’t remember a time when I was more than vaguely aware there was a Nets.
Come to think of it, what’s the Virgnian-Pilot and how do they have a columnist dedicated to the general NBA in this world of shrinking print media?
Nets on the Net: 2/10/10 Edition
Feb 10, 2010 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Del Harris, Kiki Vandeweghe, Mikhail Prokhorov, Nets on the Net
Al Iannazzone rehashes more about the Del Harris resignation situation (read NAS’s take on it later today).
Chris Douglas-Roberts was asked about his DNP-CD last night and he confirmed he was in fact ready to play if needed: “It is what it is,” he said.
Will Leitch, formerly of Deadspin fame, now of New York magazine, lets the Knicks know that it’s okay: they could be the Nets.
Paul Jones of Sportsnet Canada wonders if Bryan Colangelo of the Raptors might jump ship to the Nets once Mikhail Prokhorov takes over.
Former Net Ed O’Bannon is making progress in his lawsuit against the NCAA.
Nets on the Net: 2/9/10 Edition
Feb 9, 2010 Chris Douglas-Roberts, Devin Harris, LeBron James, Nets on the Net
In the latest from Al Iannazzone, he previews tonight’s game against Cleveland, noting how the Nets are playing more competitive, but the Cavs have won 11 straight.
After his collision with Jarvis Hayes Saturday night, it sounds like Devin Harris won’t be afraid to go after a loose ball again in the future: “Why not?’’ he said. “You’ve got to have it. Especially at that point in the game – we’ve got 25 seconds left, down five (95-90), I mean, we needed the ball.’’
Julian Garcia notes that the Nets have done very little this season to attract LeBron James to New Jersey this summer.
Hey look! Chris Douglas-Roberts is still upset by the losing: “A little bit. I’m just more cold. But all that stuff, I don’t care one way or the other,” said Douglas-Roberts. “Caring about winning? Absolutely. But everything else doesn’t matter. All of this is because I want to win. I take losing bad. All of this, everything comes from me being a sore loser. I don’t like losing.”
Tomislav Pakrac of Slam Online talks about one of the best NBA players to never make an All-Star team, a personal favorite of mine as well, Drazen Petrovic.